Tips & Tricks

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The pattern for this CAL is now available as an all-in-one PDF! Visit the Ravelry page for more information!

Tips & Tricks

Introduction
The Rozeta CAL blanket was inspired by the fragile beauty of round stained glass windows (also known as “rosettes”) and the mystical splendour of northern lights. Combining tapestry crochet and Scheepjes Our Tribe yarn, with its soft colour changes, seemed ideal. These beautiful Our Tribe colourways have also been recreated with Colour Crafter yarn, for even more combinations.

Difficulty
Even though this is an advanced pattern, it has been written with adventurous beginners in mind. There are plenty of hints and notes to help you along the way.

General Notes
The Scheepjes Rozeta CAL consists of 11 parts. First, the central mandala is made in tapestry crochet. Then, a textured border round is added in overlay crochet. This large circle is shaped into an octagon and four corners are added to square it up. After this, a rectangular tapestry panel is crocheted at the bottom and, fi nally, a stained glass border is worked around the entire blanket.

Materials
Kits for the Rozeta Blanket come in two yarns, each with four different colourways. You will either need Our Tribe OR Colour Crafter yarn to make a blanket.

Yarn

• Our Tribe 70% Merino Superwash, 30% Polyamide; 100g/420m/459yds
• Colour Crafter 100% Premium Acrylic; 100g/300m/328yds

Kits

Twilght

Dawn

Dusk

Midnight

High Noon

The Witching Hour

Winter Twilight (only in Colour Crafter)

Crochet Hook

• 3.5mm (US E/4) for Our Tribe
• 4.0mm (US G/6) for Colour Crafter

Size

Before you start working on a gauge swatch, please make sure you organize the colours according to the colour key stated above. In every part, you will find amounts for each colour used. To make sure you have enough yarn, please take your time to weigh every skein (without a label) before using it, and keep accurate notes of how much yarn in every colour was used. A simple kitchen scale will work fine for that.

Colour Changes
The pattern is written for all colourways at the same time. Please, pay extra attention to which colour should be used on the next round, as colours for Our Tribe and Colour Crafter versions will differ.

IMPORTANT!
For the two-colour version (Midnight - Black & White) – Yarn A is used for Yarn A throughout and Yarn B is used for ALL other colour changes.

Tapestry Crochet and Gauge

The Rozeta blanket begins with the central mandala in tapestry crochet. Before making an actual gauge swatch with kit yarn, please first try with leftover yarn from your stash. When you feel confident with the technique, use yarn from the kit to make the actual gauge swatch for your blanket.

To make a gauge swatch:

• Use two colours in your swatch.
• Always change to a new colour when you still have 2 loops on your hook (to finish the last
• stitch in the new colour).
• After the colour change, place previous yarn on top of crocheted piece, carry the tail behind
• your work and continue to crochet with the new colour over it.
• Each round should be joined with the same colour as used for the first stitch of the next round, changing colour in the last stitch of the round.
• Ch2 in the beginning of the round doesn’t count as a stitch. So the first stitch of a round is made in same stitch as join.

If done correctly, your gauge swatch will look the same on right and wrong sides and the carried yarn should not be visible (much) through the stitches.

Instructions for the Gauge Swatch

The circle should measure 10cm/4” across after 5 rounds with Our Tribe (and 4.5 rounds with Colour Crafter) – not blocked, but slightly stretched!

Round 1 Yarn A: make magic ring, ch2 (doesn’t count as st – here and throughout), 12tr into ring, join with ss in first tr after ch2 – 12 sts.

Round 2 Continue with Yarn A. Ch2, 2tr in each st around, join with ss in first tr after ch2 – 24 sts.

Round 3 Ch2, *Yarn A: 1tr, 2tr in next st, 1tr; Yarn B: 2tr in next st; repeat from * 5 more times, join with ss in first tr after ch2 – 36 sts.

Round 4 Ch2, *Yarn A: 1tr, 2tr in next st, 2tr; Yarn B: 1tr, 2tr in next st; repeat from * 5 more times, join with ss in first tr after ch2 – 48 sts.

Round 5 Ch2, *Yarn A: 2tr, 2tr in next st, 2tr; Yarn B: 2tr, 2tr in next st; repeat from * 5 more times, join with ss in first tr after ch2 – 60 sts.

IMPORTANT!
Gauge is important for this pattern! To make sure it doesn’t change throughout the pattern, please check after every few rounds. The mandala must stay flat! Approximate measurements of every part are given in the pattern to help you.

For an easy check: one row of tr sts (in tapestry) measures approx. 1cm (0.4”) in height in Our Tribe yarn and 1.12cm (0.44”) in Colour Crafter.

If your gauge is too tight, your central mandala might start ruffling in the next section, when the textured border will be added. And if your gauge is too loose, you might run out of the yarn.

Video tutorial
Esther from It’s all in a Nutshell has created video tutorials for the Rozeta CAL. You can find the video tutorials on her Youtube channel.

Right-handed video in UK terminology - Gauge swatch

Left-handed video in UK terminology - Gauge swatch

Abbreviations (UK Terminology)

Punctuation
* An asterisk indicates pattern repeats. You will need to repeat all the instructions from the asterisk the number of times specified. This is a hard-core repeat and will consist of multiple instructions.

Parentheses ( ) indicate repeats. You will need to repeat the instructions between parentheses the number of times specified. This is a lower level repeat. Parentheses are also used to indicate a group of sts to be worked into the same st/sp.

Square Brackets [ ] are used to indicate a group of sts to be worked in the same st/sp when using parentheses would be too confusing.

Special Stitches

Dc2tog (double crochet 2 together) (insert hook in next st, yarn over, draw up a lp) twice, yarn over, pull through all 3 lps on hook.

Dtr4tog (double treble crochet 4 together) *yarn over twice, insert hook in next stitch (or space), yarn over, draw up a lp, (yarn over, pull through 2 lps) twice; repeat from * 3 more times, yarn over, pull through all 5 lps on hook.

“Modified” dtr4tog (double treble crochet 4 together) yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of the indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, (yarn over, pull through 2 lps) twice, *yarn over twice, insert the hook in the hole at the bottom of the stitch just made, yarn over, draw up a lp, (yarn over, pull through 2 lps) twice; repeat from * twice more, yarn over, pull through all 5 lps on hook.

FPdtr (front post double treble crochet) yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, (yarn over, pull through 2 lps) 3 times.

FPdtr2tog (front post double treble crochet 2 together) *yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, (yarn over, pull through 2 lps) twice; repeat from * once more around the post of the same stitch, yarn over, pull through all 3 lps on hook.

FPdtr4tog (front post double treble crochet 4 together) *yarn over twice, insert hook from front to back to front around the post of indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, (yarn over, pull through 2 lps) twice; repeat from * 3 more times, yarn over, pull through all 5 lps on hook.

Pc (popcorn stitch) work 5tr in the same stitch/space. Remove your hook from the last tr and insert it into the first tr of the 5-tr group. Grab the last tr with your hook and pull it through the first tr, ch1 (doesn’t count as a st).

“Modified” pc work a FPdtr around the post of indicated stitch, work 4 more dtr into the hole at the bottom of the post of the first FPdtr. Remove your hook from the last st and insert it into the first FPdtr of the 5-dtr group. Grab the last st with your hook and pull it through the first st, ch1 (doesn’t count as a st).

Tr2tog (treble crochet 2 together) *yarn over, insert hook in indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, yarn over, pull through 2 lps; repeat from * once more, yarn over, pull through all 3 lps on hook.

Tr3tog (treble crochet 3 together) *yarn over, insert hook in indicated stitch, yarn over, draw up a lp, yarn over, pull through 2 lps; repeat from * twice more, yarn over, pull through all 4 lps on hook.

V-st (V stitch) (1tr, ch2, 1tr) in same stitch or space.

*Check helpful photo-tutorial for Special stitches and techniques on Tatsiana's blog HERE.*

Blocking your Blanket
Blocking is the process in which you wet your crochet piece, in order to give the stitches extra definition and to work out any minor flaws in the shape. When you block your work, the tension in the stitches is more evenly divided which means that your stitches simply look better after blocking.

We recommend wet blocking over any other blocking methods. If possible, please use a colour catcher to prevent the colours from running.

To block, immerse your blanket in water for a couple of minutes. Gently wring out most of the excess water. Place your work between two large towels and roll up so that the towels absorb more of the water. Unroll again and place your work on your blocking surface that can hold pins (yoga mats or mattresses). Applying gentle pressure, stretch your work out and use stainless pins to pin it to your blocking surface. DON’T stretch the blanket too much, as it may ruin your stitches. Just make sure that the central mandala is nicely round and other parts are symmetrical. Because your gauge might differ, you don’t have to block to exact measurements given in the pattern.

When everything is completely dry, unpin and enjoy your masterpiece. You can practice this blocking method on your gauge square too!

Timeline
The pattern is constructed as follows: